Four colleges in state set to lose approval

COIMBATORE: Cracking the whip on errant institutions, the AICTE has recommended the withdrawal of approval for four self-financing engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu this year.The AICTE decision, taken on Monday, comes just weeks ahead of the single window counselling for the 2011 edition of the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions for filling up BE/BTech seats under the Government Quota. However, the fate of students who had already jumped the queue and secured admission into these blacklisted institutions under the management quota remains uncertain as most colleges do not return the illegal capitation money.According to AICTE officials in the southern region, the approval for two sister institutions in Kancheepuram district will be withdrawn from the coming academic year. One of the two institutions was last year raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as part of a probe into an unholy nexus between some AICTE officials and college owners in granting approvals to third rate colleges. Two other engineering colleges, which would lose their approval, are located in Thoothukudi.“In a college on the outskirts of Chennai, we have decided to slash the sanctioned students’ intake strength by half in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering and Information Technology branches. All the institutions, against which we have acted, suffer from serious infrastructural and faculty inadequacies and are unfit to continue as technical institutions (except the Chennai college where part-action has been warranted),” a source in the AICTE told Express on Tuesday.Besides, the AICTE had put on hold a decision on granting/withholding approval in 30 other technical institutions across the State. These institutions include engineering colleges, stand-alone MCA/MBA colleges and pharmacy colleges. A decision on their fate would be taken after hearing their appeals during the week.